The problem of flight delays at Greek airports has now reached the highest echelons of the national government in Athens.
Greece’s Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) has issued a statement on delays at Greek airports, following reports citing Eurocontrol data indicating that delays are up 63% compared with the same period last year.
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Moreover, in the last week of June, again according to Eurocontrol, Greece accounted for 13% of all delays recorded across the European air transport network.
According to the HCAA: “From Saturday 4 July 2026, traffic (4,925 flights) has exceeded the highest levels of 2025 (4,916 flights, on 10 August). In this context, efforts to ensure the smooth handling of flights are constant and ongoing.”
With regard to the Eurocontrol figures, the HCAA clarifies: “The data mainly concern air traffic flow management (ATFM) delays at European network level. These delays are real and have increased, as is also the case for other European providers, primarily because of seasonal demand and geopolitical developments that have altered flight patterns in the wider region.
"These indicators are important for the operational monitoring of airspace. However, they should not be equated with the overall passenger experience at airports, nor interpreted as the average delay time faced by each flight.”
According to the HCAA’s operational data for June 2026, the average delay at the Athens–Macedonia Area Control Centre (KEPATHM) stood at 2.26 minutes per flight, compared with 1.62 minutes in 2025. If weather-related and other external causes are excluded, the average delay comes to 0.97 minutes per flight, against 0.85 minutes in June 2025.
Similarly, at Athens International Airport, the average delay per flight due to air traffic in June stood at 4.43 minutes, compared with 6.50 minutes in the same period last year (a reduction of more than two minutes), while total delays appear down by 31.77%.
“These figures show that, despite mounting pressures on the European network and Greek airspace, the operational impact remains more limited than the impression that may be created by isolating a single indicator,” the HCAA adds in its statement.
